Legal methods

• Consolidation


  The action or process of combining several things into a single more effective or coherent whole
• Maintenance


  The process of maintaining and preserving something or someone
• Mao legally consolidated and maintained power
• How Mao structured the government

  1. Peasants and workers held power

  2. Told local government and legal system what to do

  3. Local government and legal system told the military what to do

  4. Military told the National People's Congress

  5. National People's Congress told the Politburo
• Politburo


  A select group of people who traditionally have power over everything
• In reality, Mao held all the power, not the peasants and workers
• How power was actually structured

  1. Mao at the top

  2. Told the Politburo what to do

  3. Politburo waited for Mao's opinion

  4. Politburo told the National People's Congress and military what to do

  5. Military enforced laws and justice
• There was no central government from 1950-1954 as Mao carefully selected his inner circle
• How Mao legitimised his government in 1954

  1. Instituted a constitution

  2. Included a marriage law giving women rights

  3. Redistributed privately owned land

  4. Outlined the structure of the state
• The 1954 constitution legally gave Mao all the power and allowed him to come and go as he pleased
• The peasants and workers supported the 1954 constitution because it gave them land and rights